


A Colder Match I Never Saw

by RoseWithAllHerThorns



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 08:13:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20422757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoseWithAllHerThorns/pseuds/RoseWithAllHerThorns
Summary: In another world, Hans is the youngest of thirteen sisters, and just as eager to escape them. When her attempts to woo the prince of Arendelle are complicated by its queen, Hans has a hard time simply ignoring her.





	A Colder Match I Never Saw

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sheeon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sheeon/gifts).

It had taken some work to be chosen as the Southern Isle’s representative. Simply coming would have been as simple as being okay with a second rate cabin in the ship and the constant threat of being jostled out of the spotlight, but Hans wanted much more than being seen as the baby of the family, a woman who had yet to find her footing the way her older sisters had and likely never would.

She didn’t bother to say her farewells to the third youngest, Sophia, who should have learned to check her choice of horse more carefully before going out hunting. She doubted that she would have recognized the difference anyways, but it was a shame that her injuries wouldn’t leave her in any condition to dance or make a good impression on the public.

It was only when their ship pulled away with no preparations in place to send a backup that Hans truly relaxed, stretching out across the bed and staring not at the ceiling, but the plans she’d concocted with what little information they had about the crown princess and prince of Arendelle.

She knew that they were orphans. That they had no other recognized family, owing to a plague that had struck a few decades ago. It was common gossip that the crown princess had not been seen publicly in years, nor gone to any functions of state inside or outside the country. As a result, neither had any martial entanglements, even with their own nobility.

That didn’t include the information that was mere rumors: that the royal family was entangled with trolls; that a spirit of ice haunted the castle; that Anton had been prevented from leaving the castle.

It was only in Hans’ own head that there were whispers of danger and opportunity. No one was quite willing to say it out loud, but a queen like Elsa could mean many things. The polite explanation was she desired to put forth her strongest impression as an adult, though surely she’d be better off making some showings in public. Hans suspected that she was sickly, and unwilling to endanger her own health. She was likely to fall ill, or to hand off her duties involving travel to others, and that was when Anton would gain power.

Hans was surprised, frankly, that Anton had not already publicly made a bid for the throne, but then again, he was only fifteen. He couldn’t be crowned any sooner than three years from now even if Elsa fell dead on the very day of her coronation.

Time would show how prudent the prince really was.

\--

As it turned out, not very.

He had no party to follow him on his walk, and when Hans had offered her hand to help him off the rowboat, he had been exceedingly flustered by the act. Hans’ thoughtful eyes followed him, all the way back to the palace where the ball would soon take place.

At the coronation, Elsa went through it incredibly quickly, though Hans’ eyes couldn’t pick out any trace of difficulty in walking or standing. Was it possible she had some kind of difficulty in social situations? Hans imagined that as the heiress, her parents would have trained that out of her, but then again, she was infamously sequestered.

Unlike her brother, who Hans waved to at the ceremony, smiling daintily at him while he tried and failed to hide his own grin.

\--

Hans’ eyes kept drifting to Elsa, lingering on her, trying to discover what it was that had made her who she was, but no one knew. Not the maids or the nobles, children and adults. Hans had debated trying to get the information from Anton, and he delivered it easily enough: he had no idea why either. Queen Elsa’s isolation was complete and total.

That assumed that the prince was forthright. That he was exactly as honest and awkwardly charming as he presented himself to be, and had _no idea _why his sister might be avoiding him.

Some part of Hans, some quiet, observant, suspicious part, could not believe that.

“I hope I’ll see you around the castle later, my handsome Anton,” she said, and smiled rather than smirked when Anton nearly tripped over his own feet excusing himself. “I’ll be a diplomat for the Southern Isles for a few months.”

\--

The doors closed after the ball, leaving Hans sleeping in an inn in the city, enjoying the way she didn’t sweat here like in the Southern Isles, the way the sun didn’t beat down and there were no mosquitos to speak of. The way it was absolutely nothing like home.

The doors closed, but when Hans expressed how tired she was, and how much she’d like to lay down, Anton welcomed her in, ushered her in with a cloak to hide her foreign fineries from plain sight.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Anton whispered, pressed side-to-side on a couch in a farther corner of the palace, “but I’m so glad you are.”

\--

Courting someone this naïve was in some ways more complex than it would have been if Anton knew what Hans wanted, and was bold enough to offer it. Subtle hints went over his head, and he was easily blinded by his own fears and anxieties.

It was on the third visit when Elsa caught them.

It was much more like they caught her- even a queen needed things like food or a chamber pot. She had asked where Anton stayed, and then where Elsa did. If any doctors had passed through their quarters recently.

It put Anton in such a tizzy that he spent a few minutes reassuring Elsa that even if she did have the plague, he would not want her to die alone, and that made keeping on a poker face harder than it had to be.

“Oh, if the queen doesn’t want to come out we can hardly make her, Anta-“ Hans said not trying to be quiet, and that provoked the first response from a queen who had done another turnabout the day after the ball, and was pretending Anton wasn’t there once more.

“Who’s that with you?”

“Just a close friend.” Hans smiled, and pulled Anton closer, her voice turning deep and suave. “A _very _close friend.”

That roused something from the queen, sure enough, and Hans heard the sound of the doorknob turning, thwarted by its own lock.

"You can't-" Elsa said, and tried again, "how close are you two already?"

"Elsa, we're a couple of friends. A perfectly close couple who are-"

The door finally opened, Elsa's hands clenched into fists. "You only met two days ago."

"Yes, well, we've been talking." Hans knew this part, at least, would require Elsa's approval, but catching sight of her was rare in itself. Calming her blood enough to not needle Elsa further was wise, but fought against the impulse deeper down to get Elsa to really look at them. "Haven't we?"

"Yes! We've spent practically all day together."

It was more time than Elsa had spent with Anton all put together since Anton was very small, and that was almost sad. Once Hans had fought past the urge to congratulate Anton on interacting with his family that little, she saw how much Anton craved Elsa's approval, or perhaps anyone's approval.

Before Anton left, dragged away or perhaps crowned, she wanted to learn what kind of person could inspire that kind of loneliness without hatred.

Perhaps Elsa's protective streak would lend a clue there.


End file.
